General Motors U.S. Sales Decrease 2.9 Percent To 245,387 Units In November 2017

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General Motors Company reported 245,387 new vehicle deliveries for November 2017 in the U.S. market, a 2.9 percent decrease compared to November 2016. Sales decreased at all four brands – Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.

“More vehicles are sold in December than any other month and we are very well positioned because we have momentum in so many segments, but especially in crossovers,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations. “When we close the books on 2017, GM will show very healthy inventory levels, significantly lower daily rental sales for the third year in row, and the best year in our history for crossover deliveries by far.”

“U.S. economic growth has stepped up and we expect the momentum will carry over to 2018,” added GM Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem. “Employment continues to grow at a solid pace, wage growth will accelerate and consumer confidence just hit a 17-year high, so industry sales should remain strong.”

Retail sales volume was essentially flat (down 0.1 percent) or 269 vehicles to 197,340 units, representing 80.4 percent of total November 2017 sales compared to 78.2 percent in November 2016:

Chevrolet retail sales increased 1.9 percent to 128,485 units

Cadillac retail sales decreased 9.9 percent to 11,605 units

GMC retail sales decreased 1.9 percent to 40,417 units

Buick retail sales decreased 3.5 percent to 16,833 units

Fleet sales volume decreased 12.7 percent or 6,988 vehicles to 48,047 units, accounting for 19.6 percent of total November 2017 sales compared to 21.8 percent in November 2016:

The fleet sales decrease was mostly a result of a 24 percent reduction in daily rental deliveries

Commercial and government deliveries were up a combined 7 percent, driven by a 30 percent increase in full-size pickup sales and a 35 percent increase for the Chevrolet Tahoe PPV (Police Pursuit Vehicle)

Average Transaction Prices (ATPs) & Incentive Spending:

Customer demand for crossovers, strong SUV sales, and a record November for GMC Denali sales helped GM’s Average Transaction Prices (ATP) for surpass $37,000 for the first time ever. GM’s ATPs were about $4,500 above industry average and nearly $2,000 higher than any domestic competitor.

GM’s November incentive spending as a percentage of average transaction prices (ATP) was an estimated 12.9 percent of ATP, per JD Power PIN, which is in line with the industry average. Spending was down 0.3 percentage points from October and 0.8 points year-over-year.

Inventory:

November month-end inventory was 819,327 units for an 83 days supply, representing:

An increase of 5,679 units from the 813,648 units at the end of October 2017

An increase of 3 days from the 80 days supply at the end of October 2017

A decrease of 54,835 units from the 874,162 units at the end of November 2016

A decrease of 4 days from the 87 days supply at the end of November 2016

SAAR:

The seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) for light vehicles was 17.4 million vehicles in November 2017. The SAAR is 17.2 million units for 2017 calendar-year-to-date.

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8 Comments

Did you see the growth of Avenir on GMs official page! 30% of 2018 Enclaves were Avenir’s. I know they said the ramp up of Avenir would be high but my god! That’s says a lot about Buick’s brand image more than anything. Overall a very impressive month…although no figure on Denali penetration and GMC ATP…a little disappointed they didn’t but its probably closing in at 30% of overall GMC sales. Like I said overall a great month.

New crossovers are still in transition. Traverse,Enclave and Terrain are still in inventory ramp up mode. Then there was a reduced inventory situation for the new Equinox, due to the strike.

I think we will see the new FNR-X in the January Auto show. This is a great looking sports crossover.

We should also see more of that Cadillac Escala treatment being applied to all of the Cadillac models. Some may preview at the January auto show. Also, a larger, full sized crossover, to fit between the XT5 and the Escalade.

Profit margins are also much better, due to the fact that GM spent $35 billion over the last 8 years to replace or upgrade most of their production equipment.

It’s interesting that in GM Authority, there’s no article discussing how GM CEO Mary Barra’s decision to acquire Strobe Inc will reduce the cost of Lidar in a vehicle to $10K and make autonomous driving vehicles more affordable.